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User blog:Carrieunderwoodfanforlife/Standing by Their Men: Country Radio's Woeful Female Problem
The struggle of the female country artist has long been subjected to headline-grabbing articles and think pieces within the Nashville community. Who could forget the "Salad Gate" scandal that occurred in the summer of 2015? However, while many have pointed out that female artists do indeed have a much tougher time getting consistent airplay at radio, who has really done anything about it in the last few years, and is there really anything you ''can ''do about it? Taking a look at the current top 30 country hits of the week, according to the real-time Country Mediabase chart, the list looks like this: Nine men occupy the top half of the chart, including Kenny Chesney, Jake Owen, Brett Young, Jason Aldean, and Thomas Rhett. One of those men, Keith Urban, is sharing the spot with Julia Michaels, who is a ''pop ''superstar. In fact, the first country female artist we encounter on the chart is Carrie Underwood, who has fallen this week from No. 8 back to No. 10. Underwood, who has racked up 27 top ten singles since the start of her career, is hands-down an anomaly in the struggle for airplay, as no other female artist has been able to achieve the kind of radio success that she has inexplicably enjoyed. However, this year Underwood returned with what is probably her most feminine single to date, "Cry Pretty." The lead single from her upcoming sixth album, it seems that at last, after thirteen years of sending songs into the top three of the charts back-to-back, "Cry Pretty" will be Underwood's first to miss even the top 5 mark. This week "Pretty" slides from its No. 10 position on Billboard's Country Airplay to No. 13. While it remains to be seen if the song has peaked out or not, it does seem unusual for Underwood to be having difficulty reaching the number one spot. After all, she is the female artist with the most No. 1 hits on the Airplay chart to date, with her last single to do so - "Church Bells" - being released in 2016. Only four other female artists can be found on the country chart this week, and those are Lindsay Ell - who is attempting to break into the U.S. market from Canada - Sugarland teaming up with the pop giant Taylor Swift in "Babe", Carly Pearce, and Maren Morris. That is not to say that women are excluded from the number one spot, only that the event seems to be few and far between. Kelsea Ballerini, for example, has had astounding success at country radio with her singles, with her most recent No. 1 being "Legends", which found its way to the top of Billboard's Airplay. It should be noted, however, that Ballerini's follow-up release, "I Hate Love Songs", did not produce the same response and peaked somewhere in the thirties of the same chart. So, what exactly is the formula that can push a female artist to the top? Well, there doesn't seem to be one. If it is true that the majority of country radio listeners are female, and that they only want to hear a small percentage of female artists throughout the day, it begs the further question - why? Why is it that women don't want to hear more women? It certainly can't be due to lackluster singles. It should be noted that female songwriters like Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, and Liz Rose have received increased recognition from major award ceremonies like the ACMs and CMAs in recent years, and number ones certainly don't make a song good or bad, but...wouldn't it be refreshing if say, for just one week, the charts were filled with twelve women instead of five? Even that seems to be asking for too much. No matter if you agree or disagree, it's certainly an interesting phenomenon, and certainly something that will continue to be talked about for years to come. Category:Blog posts